Often times when the government prints money (thus devaluing money already on the market) it either goes into the hands of the rich (trickle-down effect) or it goes to the hands of the poor in the form of social programs. The loss of the middle class has been happening slowly since the late 1970’s when the US left the gold standard, this is because inflation has been on the rise ever since. As the US government continues to pull more and more taxes from the paychecks of the middle class in order to support the growing lower class, the rift only continues to increase and the problem gets bigger. Much of this can be attributed to the fall of labor unions, wages which are unable to keep up, and the rising cost of living in general. People are increasingly finding that they are unable to maintain savings accounts and are instead living paycheck to paycheck. But that number is falling, and fast, today the middle class makes up just under 50% of society. Throughout the course of American history, the middle class made up more than 60% of American society. And this is quickly causing the disappearance of the middle class as we know it. While inflation has been notoriously under reported, many people have noticed the climbing cost of education, owning a car, and owning a house. Over the decades since the 1950’s, an odd phenomenon has been occurring in the United States.